Traveling Kiefer

Anselm Kiefer Exhibition in Montreal:Heaven and Earth
A first in northeastern North America
February 11 to April 30, 2006.

Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal
185, rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest
Located next to the Place des Arts
(514) 847-6226

http://www.macm.org

Gigantic, monumental, colossal-words aren’t big enough to describe the work of Anselm Kiefer. A major event in itself, the Anselm Kiefer exhibition will stand as a highlight in Montréal’s cultural life and, no doubt, in the history of the Musée. The Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal presents Anselm Kiefer: Heaven – Earth from February 11 to April 30, 2006.

The exhibition, the first major showing of Kiefer’s work in North America in twenty years, and the first ever in Canada, contains some fifty pieces produced from 1969 to 2005: paintings, some of them as much as six metres in size, books, lead sculptures and works on paper. Subtitled Heaven – Earth, this thematic survey reveals the different layers of meaning suggested by the artist’s work of the past three decades exploring the dialogue between heaven and earth. It ponders a civilization in search of spirituality but grappling with the weight of its human condition, beyond cultures and religions. Buch mit Flügeln (Book with Wings), for example, is uplifting with its wings, yet earthbound with its thousands of kilograms of weight.

Kiefer is himself a monument in contemporary art. Born in Donaueschingen, Germany, just as the Second World War was ending, he is considered one of the most important and relevant artists of our day. Now based in Barjac, France, he continues to explore the fundamental experiences of human existence through mythology, history and time. To convey these rich historical and philosophical metaphors, Kiefer makes use of highly symbolic materials such as clay, ash, gold leaf, seeds, dried plants and lead.

Montréal is the exhibition’s first stop in northeastern North America. Initially presented in fall 2005 in Forth Worth, it will next travel to the HirshhornMuseum and SculptureGarden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.